Strange issue just started happening! I submitted an app to android store just fine about 10 minutes ago, I have just come to submit a different app and now google won't let me select the APK file from the open dialog and if I drag and drop it says invalid file type. It also does the same thing if I try a new release on the app i previously submitted without an issue.
In my screenshot attached you can see the APK is greyed out and I can't select it?
You have to upload AAB (Android app bundle).
Starting in August 2021, developers wanting to publish new Android apps on the Google Play Store will have to change how those apps are packaged together: Rather than the traditional APK (Android application package) format that has been in place for years, software makers are going to be required to use the AAB (Android app bundle) framework instead.
Related
Google says here:
Important: In the second half of 2021, new apps will be required to
publish with the Android App Bundle on Google Play. New apps larger
than 150 MB must use either Play Feature Delivery or Play Asset
Delivery.
The most straightforward interpretation of this is:
Apps that are first uploaded on Google Play (and does not already exist there) requires AAB, but already existing apps, even if you release a new version of that app, does not require AAB format
But, it seems odd to me that Google would allow millions of apps to use APK instead of AAB, so I considered if this is what they actually mean:
All new releases, including already existing apps on Google Play, require AAB format
Can someone confirm this for me?
Also, if AAB is not required for existing apps, for how long do they allow APK releases?
All new releases, including already existing apps on Google Play, require AAB format
This is incorrect. As you initially said, the change as stated today only applies to apps that upload an artifact for the first time.
Google has not communicated what the plan is for existing apps.
I have a problem in an app updated in play store.
Around 800 user could updated it without problem, but we have 3 users who get this message:
I've try install it with apk instead play store, with a similar result:
The min SDK is 16 and the SDK target is 28, and this devices have SDK 27 and 28.
One of these users had a device in which she couldn't install it. But last week buy new device, and she can't install it too. This new device has never had the application installed before.
How can I see any information about the problem?
I had such a problem, when tried to install a new version of my app. I found the reason for the problem when installing the new release version of my app using Android Studio. The error message has explained in detail what the problem is.
So if someone has such a problem I would suggest getting a device on which the error can be reproduced, then trying to install it using Android Studio and check the message.
The full story in my case was as the following: I had two different applicationId for "release" and "debug" configurations. In the new version of the app, I added a "provider" to the manifest. During my development I installed the debug version and then I deployed the new version to the Play Store. When I tried to install the deployed app on this device I got the message that it cannot be installed. The reason was that the release version had the same provider as the debug version, so they cannot be installed both. The solution is to change the authorities of the provider according to the applicationId.
This looks like a problem on the device, rather than a problem downloading from Google Play store. Logs from this should be in the users device logs, like you get for your app. You can ask your user for the logs, by asking them to send you a bug report. There are instructions here on taking bug reports.
When you look at the bug report, error messages from the Play store are tagged with "Finsky". You may also see errors from the device package manager.
When errors like this occured, it is recommended to read the link (see common ways to fix the problem). Most of the time cleaning Google Play Services cache and data will do the trick:
Clear the Google Play Store cache
1.Open the Settings menu on your device.
2.Go to Apps or Application Manager. (This option might differ depending on your device.)
3.Scroll to All apps and then scroll down to the Google Play Store app.
4.Open the app details and tap the Force stop button.
5.Tap the Clear cache button.
Repeat the steps above, but replace Google Play Store in step 3 with Google Play services.
Try to download the app again.
Clear the Google Play Store data
If cleaning the cache of the Google Play Store and Google Play Services doesn't resolve the issue, try clearing the Google Play Store data:
1.Open the Settings menu on your device.
2.Go to Apps or Application Manager. (This option might differ depending on your device.)
3.Scroll to All apps and then scroll down to the Google Play Store app.
4.Open the app details and tap the Force stop button.
5.Tap the Clear data button.
6.Clear data button
Good day.
My question today is the following:
If I installed my app from the google playstore then tried to update it manually with an updated signed APK generated straight from android studio would it throw an error?
Does google play add extra meta-data to my app upon submission in which it can only be updated through google play?
My reasons for asking this question are due to my own observations and are stated in the following.
I recently published my app to the app store (my first app). Afterwards I immediately began working on an update the update is ready but this is where things get complicated. I installed my app from google play and then attempted to update it through a signed apk directly from android studio.
The update ran successful however the first screen runs (splash screen nothing special) then it launches the second screen which retrieves data from the database. When it lands on the second screen my app crashes.
I tried the following install patterns:
Installing a direct older version apk which was not submitted to the play store then the new apk (both are signed) which resulted in success.
I installed the new updated apk independent of the old apk (by removing the old version) which resulted in success.
From attempting these two scenarios it is certain my code is working properly so the issue must be related to installing an apk from google play as well as a new version not from google play.
Thanks for your help.
No, Google Play cannot change anything in your uploaded APK as Google Play does not have your signing key. The fact that you're able to install a new version of the APK signed by your key confirms that the key is the same and the app is exactly as you uploaded it.
I just uploaded my android app for beta testing for the first time and my friends are able to download it without issue. However I found that in the app page, 'Size' and 'Current Version' shows 'Varies with device' instead of the actual apk size and version..
I've only uploaded only one APK, what gives?
Screenshot below:
If you wish to access my beta testing app page, send me a message with your gmail address in, so I can add you into the beta testing list.
Have you found out the answer yet? Since you have not elected an answer as a correct one, here we go...
Google Play allows you to publish different APKs for your application. Each one targeted to different device configuration. Thus, each APK is an independent version of your application, but they share the same application listing on Google Play and must share the same package name and be signed with the same release key.
Usually Android applications run on most compatible devices with a single APK, by supplying alternative resources for different configurations (e.g., different layouts for different screen sizes) and the Android system selects the appropriate resources for the device at runtime. But in a few cases, however, a single APK is unable to support all device configurations, because alternative resources make the APK file too big (greater than 50MB) or other technical challenges prevent a single APK from working on all devices.
And even though Google doesn't encourage developers to use this "multiple APK" feature, most Google apps use it: Google+, Google Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps, Google Search, Google Play Books, Google Play Movies & TV, Google Translate.
I hope I was helpful.
Check the Artifacts library section of Release Management in Google Play developer console, you should have just one active artifact for the your app release.
My app was on closed track and the latest release wasn't showing until I removed the draft APKs in "Artifact library" and uninstalled the app from all closed test devices.
I am developing an Android application and in this application, I am using "In app billing" features.
I uploaded apk on the google console account and set the product id, price and other required things and saved all the data in the draft.(Application is still in draft mode).
I did not publish my app yet.
After a few minutes, I realized that I uploaded old signed apk file and keystore of this apk has already lost.
Now I want to remove this old apk file and want to upload a new one in draft mode.
My problems are :
How to remove the old apk file from the google console account.(In Draft Mode)
How to upload the new signed apk file with new key store (As I have
lost my old key store)
EDIT:
I want to publish the app with the same name and with same package name. I do not want to change my app name atleast.
This can now be done by going to Release management > Artifact library and deleting the APK.
You cannot delete the artifacts anymore.
Here's a part of my chat with Pete through the built-in help & support.
Pete:
Thanks for waiting. You can't remove an apk that you've already
served. Your next Production apk has to be version code 3 or higher.
Me:
So I can't just delete the artifact of that build?
Pete:
That's correct.
(P.S. He mentioned version code 3 because of my specific issue)
You can try KOTIOS's answer.
Delete the aab / apk file from the Google Play Console on the App Bundle Explorer under Release Tab
Then select the apk/aab file you want to delete from the List
Quoting Can we still remove never-published apps from Google Play?:
Well, the answer is that the strategy still works. If you've never
published the app, you can remove all traces of it from Google Play
and another publisher account can then upload an app with the same
package name. All you need to do is deactivate (if necessary) and then
delete all .apk files and the app will disappear from your developer
console.
If the app was ever published, this will not work. You can unpublish
an app, but you cannot delete any .apk files that were ever active
while the app was published. (This behavior is undocumented as far as
I can find.) This is unfortunate; it would be nice to be able to
completely remove all traces of an app that was never downloaded by
anyone. Even better would be a sandbox area that emulated all aspects
of Google Play, including buying your own app (and would support doing
it through the emulator).
I also discovered that the delays involved in propagating changes to
all Google Play servers seems worse than it did a year ago with
Android Market. In one case, when testing license responses I had to
wait two hours after uploading (but not publishing) an app before the
response came back as anything from "NOT_MARKET_MANAGED".
You can do this by upload new apk with upper version
and the old Apk will deactivated automaticly